


In Your Dreams

by CosmoandWanda



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluffy, Identity Reveal, See your soulmate in your nightmares, Side DJWifi, Soulmates, but probably angst, but they help you?, lots of made up lore, reveal early in the fic, teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-05-30 13:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15097937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmoandWanda/pseuds/CosmoandWanda
Summary: Soulmates have a unique way of expressing themselves through nightmares. Most people enjoy having their soulmate save them from their nightmares most nights, but Marinette and her soulmate aren't like most people. Can they continue to save each other in dreams, and in real life?Yes this is another self-indulgent fic because I'm a sucker for Soulmate AU's, but I wanted to add my own little spin on it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all like this! I spent a full day going through the soulmate tag and decided there weren't enough fics, so here is mine.

“I just have a bad feeling about this, okay?” Marinette huffed, walking out in front of her friend.

“A feeling that has nothing to do with all your other feelings? Really. You’re sure.” Alya replied back, increasing her pace to face Marinette while they continued their way to school. “You know I’m here to support you, you know I want this for you, but can you hear yourself? You think kidnapping Adrien is the solution?”

“It’s not kidnapping Alya! This has nothing to do with my general feelings, this is about doing what’s right. Something is wrong, and we need to help him.” She said firmly. 

Blue eyes met brown, neither one backing down. Alya had stopped in front of Marinette, both girls stood firm. Alya with her hands on her hips, while Marinette’s were crossed tightly across her chest. It had been a slower walk to school than normal, starting off when Marinette broached the topic of Adrien to Alya right as she had walked through the bakery doors. From there, it had been a series of stalling, convincing, and arguing to where they currently stood, twenty feet from the front steps of their school. 

Alya sighed, tilting her head to the side and pinching the bridge of her nose. Marinette glowered, aiming to look as impassive as possible. Finally, Alya looked back at her best friend, and slowly shook her head.

“We should talk about this more later. Please don’t do anything until we talk?” 

“Like I’m ever out of your sight anyway,” the darker hair girl teased, uncrossing her arms and wrapping them around Alya’s shoulders. “We’ll talk more, just watch him today, okay? You’ll see what I’m on about.”

Alya did, in fact, see what Marinette was on about. Adrien looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, cakey concealer unable to hide the deep purple under his eyes. Marinette had approached him nervously the day before, asking if he was alright, and the model stared at the increasingly concerned girl for a full thirty seconds before realizing she had spoken. 

“Sorry, I’m fine! Um, how are you?” He had replied. Marinette stuttered out a reply, and sat down frowning, a look she shared with Nino as he had watched his best friend slowly return his gaze towards the front of the class. As much as it seemed like Alya was holding Marinette back, she really just wanted the girl to slow down. Ever since Adrien had come into their class, her friend seemed to rush head first into everything, even more literally than usual. There's only so many times you can stick your arms out to keep someone from falling down the stairs before muscle memory gives way to concern.

Back in the present, Marinette and Alya exchanged knowing looks before turning back to the wilted blond in front of them. Marinette scrawled on a piece of paper before sliding it towards Alya.

'We need Nino in on the plan' was all it read, and without any hesitation Alya pulled out her phone to begin the arduous process of filling the boy in. 

***  
After classes ended Marinette sat, eyes filled with concern as she watched Adrien sigh before hauling his messenger bag over his shoulder, straightening his shoulders and exiting the room. The rest of class had mostly left, but she continued to stare at the doorway with her eyebrows furrowed. Eventually she turned towards her two friends, who had matching concern written on their faces. 

“So. Can we all finally agree that Adrien is in desperate need of some assistance, or do I need to convince you?” The words held no bite or blame, but it was clear that any delay would not be tolerated. The pair nodded, pulling out papers and phones. “Okay, tomorrow after school, Nino you are to intercept Adrien before he can make it to fencing practice. Alya will call D’argencourt in the morning as Nathalie to inform him of Adrien’s absence. While you’re stalling, I’ll come running with a message about fencing being cancelled, and then invite you all over to play games. From there we play it by ear- my current theory is that for some reason Adrien is avoiding falling asleep, so as is we might put on a movie and hope he rests. If something else comes up, we’ll adjust. Questions?” 

Alya grinned up at her friend, excited from the plot and proud that Marinette was avoiding the one thing she knew was bothering her the most. Nino seemed slightly more apprehensive about lying on such a large scale, but this seemed like it could work. 

“Uh, Nette, I have one question. How do we deal with it when everyone inevitably finds out about this?” She looked at him, considering for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

“No matter what, this is my plan. I take full responsibility for everything, even if that means facing Mr. Agreste,” she said simply. 

Marinette knew the likelihood of this staying a secret for more than a day was a long shot, but she couldn’t help it. She knew Adrien hadn’t been sleeping, more than just from the circles under his eyes. He hadn’t appeared in her nightmares in more than a week, which meant he wasn’t sleeping at night at all. 

Marinette had her first soul dream when she was six. She was being bullied, and just when the person in her dream had reeled back to hit her, a hand grabbed hers and pulled her out of the way. She locked eyes with a small blonde boy with green eyes and a tender smile. The bully was still there, but with his hand in hers, she was able to finally challenge them, shouting “leave me alone” loud enough for the dream to shake and dissolve around her and the boy. 

From then on, it seemed like every night he was in her nightmares, giving her strength to fight back, to do what was right, to believe in herself. Then, one day, they were his nightmares. He had never called her by her name, and she got the impression she didn’t appear as quite herself in the dreams. She had hoped once the dreams switched that something would change, but it seemed like it wasn’t to be. The first time they were in his nightmare, he was alone in a dark room. There was no way in or out. She knew from reading about soul dreams that there was always an aspect of a “rescue” to them, so she did the only thing she could think of. She wrapped herself around him, holding his head to her chest, and reminded him that she was here. She would always be here for him. Slowly his gasping breaths evened out until light crept into the room, showing a door. Pulling him to standing, she showed him the way out of the darkness that had entombed him. 

Then, months after his nightmares began, she had received a box. There was nothing written on it, but when she opened it, a pair of earrings fell out into her hands. After putting them on, she knew how she appeared in his dreams. It made sense in the old world magic sort of way that her soulmate would have always known she would become ladybug. Tikki was less than forthcoming about why that might be, but Marinette was content to know that sooner or later, the green eyed boy would get to know both sides of her. 

Sooner than expected of course, as he showed up at school the very same day as her earrings, and being confronted with the reality that her soulmate did not recognize her as a civilian was less than ideal, but ultimately she was content to just finally be near him. 

Part of that contentment was, of course, being able to help him in person, and just because she couldn’t reasonably explain what the deal was with her soulmate bond to anyone else didn’t mean she would take his suffering sitting down. Plus, there had begun to be an unusual patterns to the nightmares they shared since akuma’s became regular, and she couldn’t investigate if they stopped happening.

“Alright then. I feel bad making you take the fall, but the old man already hates me,” Nino said, bringing her back to the moment. She grinned at his sheepish admission, and put her hand on his arm comfortingly. 

“It’s alright Nino, I’ve got you.” Alya coughed, making Marinette turn to face her. “Of course I’ve got your back two Als, but all thing considered no one would believe this was your plan anyway,” she laughed, acknowledging her reputation for intense plotting. 

“Fair enough! See you all tomorrow, bright and early,” she crooned, packing up her belongings. “You walking me home Lahiffe?” She cocked an eyebrow at the slightly flushed teen, who quickly nodded and within seconds they were heading out of the school. 

Once her friends had left, Marinette headed straight home, rushing up to her room so she could fling herself over her chaise. As much as napping was encouraged in their soulmate-centric society, Marinette had always struggled with the idea. For people who hadn’t found their soulmates yet it was a nice way to “check in” on other time zones, in case their soulmate didn’t live near them. It was also supposed to be helpful for people who had multiple soulmates, as it meant you had a higher chance of meeting all of them. Marinette, for a time, had hoped that she might be one of the lucky people with multiple soulmates, but since becoming Ladybug she was glad that only one person would have know her in and out of spots. 

She sighed and slumped in on herself. There was another reason she didn’t want to try to nap today. Part of her that was worried Adrien was avoiding her. It wasn’t so much borne of insecurity as a feeling that something was pulling him away from her. The hero side of her had worried that Hawkmoth might have had something to do with it, and once the thought had taken root it was hard to shake. 

It wasn’t completely unfounded, she reasoned with herself. After all, one of the pressing issues of their dreams was their uncanny ability to predict akuma. Not with certainty, but slowly the nightmares had stopped being exclusively her or his, and seemed to meet in an external space from them. They fought the quasi-akuma together, just the way she and Chat did in real life. The main difference was that the person they would be fighting was just that- a person. In the dream-space they had no extra powers, no costumes, just ridiculous names and empty threats. 

As both Ladybug and Marinette she had kept quiet about the changes to her soul dreams, not wanting to break the promise she and Chat had made about privacy concerning their soulmates when they first met, and not knowing how to explain them to anyone else without revealing herself. At first, she had theorized that they were internalizing the fear the city had since the magical rent-an-enemy had started making appearances, but then she noticed the dreams were slowly becoming true. 

Flipping onto her back, Marinette blindly reached for the notebook she kept stuffed beneath one of the chaise cushions. Flipping it open, she scanned the busy pages as she had hundreds of times before. First the dreams showed the location where the next attack would be. Then, they would show who was being akumatized. It was only a few days before Adrien had stopped sleeping that she suspected they were beginning to show how the pattern of the fight would develop. 

She stood and walked over to her desk, fingers skimming over the dented pages. She uncapped a pen with her teeth and flipped to a new page. In bold letters she wrote out Adrien’s name. The pen twitched in her hand as she contemplated where to start.


	2. Hit the Hay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey guys,” it said. Marinette jumped nearly a foot into the air before collapsing on the ground instead of landing. “Oh god Marinette are you alright?” It continued.
> 
> She felt two strong hands wrap around her forearms, pulling her back up to standing. Adrien’s peridot eyes shone down with concern, causing the heat to rise to her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so the response to the first chapter was really really sweet and I'm glad y'all seem to like my take on this AU! I think I have an idea of where this is going, but it's a little plot heavy which is not my strong suit- so this might take awhile!
> 
> In the meantime, enjoy!

Marinette had never been an early-riser per se, but her parents shock at seeing their daughter out of bed, let alone dressed and ready for school a half hour before it started was a little insulting. She threw a playful glare at them as she grabbed some of the “unsellable” pastries they had boxed, and marched out the door. 

Once out of sight, she broke into a clear sprint across the street separating her house from the school. Alya was outfront, already holding her phone to her ear as she tapped a pen on the journal in her lap. Marinette slowed as she reached her friend, opening the box as a silent invitation. 

“Yes Sir. Adrien will still be attending school today but he is under strict orders to not overextend himself. Monsieur Agreste does not want Adrien to risk the illness becoming more serious. Yes. Thank you,” Alya said in a clipped tone. Over the past year they had gotten very accustomed to the cold calmness Adrien’s career had, and after having been on the receiving end of it many a time, Alya was quite adept at imitating the tone. 

Alya hung up and let out a breath, letting her body settle from the stiff position she had been in before looking up at Marinette.

“Girl I didn’t think you had it in you to be up this early!” She plucked an eclair from the box. Around a large bite she managed to grunt out, “That was way more nerve wracking than I thought it would be.”

“You sounded perfect! The excuse was perfect too,” Marinette grinned, wrapping an arm around Alya’s side. “Thank you so much for helping me with this.”

They locked eyes. Unable to contain the deluge of affection that overcame Marinette, she surged forward, trapping her friend into a tight hug. 

“Seriously. I know that you don’t like that I can’t talk about things, I know you hate the secrets, but you’re amazing and no one could ever be a better best friend than you, thank you thank you thank you,” she rushed out.

Alya laughed and squirmed in the embrace until she got a hand free, patting the teary-eyed girl on the head. 

“Hey girl, I know what I know, and that’s okay. I love you too.” She continued her petting until Marinette loosened her hold, allowing her to resume eating her treat. “You know, I’ve always wondered, why don’t you just tell Adrien it’s you? I know you’ve said he doesn’t ever see who’s helping him, but I’m sure he’d believe you. It’s not like having an invisible soulmate is common,” she asked carefully. She felt Marinette stiffen next to her. She looked over at the dark-haired girl, surprised to see a blush forming.

“It’s not that I don’t think he’ll believe me, but I want him to see me. You know? He can hear me, he can feel my heart, and I want him to be comfortable with me before going all ‘hey you know how your soulmate is invisible, it’s me!’ that… just doesn’t seem fair. To either of us.” Marinette deflated by the end of her speech, looking at her feet.

“Good morning my favorite people who have absolutely nothing suspicious going on whatsoever!” A too loud voice intoned over the distant chatter of classmates. 

“Nino!” Marinette hissed, “You are the worst! Be quiet!” 

He schooched his way between them on the bench, effectively separating the box of treats from Alya’s reach. She jostled his shoulder, making an exaggerated pout while he pretended not to notice. Plucking a kouign-amann from the box, he finally met Marinette’s frustrated gaze. 

“Sorry sorry I’m just so nervous,” he whispered, “it’s not like I make a habit of lying! I’m no good at secrets.” 

Alya patted his arm reassuringly, quickly retelling her victory in pretending to be Nathalie and wrapping him up in a conversation about music. Marinette tried to let the tension that had been building in her shoulder slip out as she exhaled. Lying about her soul-dreams always made her antsy, especially since Alya bought the discomfort she had as it being a difficult topic to discuss. 

It was rare for soulmates to be invisible in their partners dreams, usually occurring when a person wasn’t comfortable with who they saw in their dreams. There had been a barrage of questioning Marinette’s identity when she first decided to lie to Alya. ‘Have you thought that you might not be cis?’ ‘Are you sure you’re comfortable with yourself?’ ‘Maybe you idol worship him too much?’ On and on, until finally Marinette added “he’s not ever been able to see me! Not since I was six!” Which put Alya’s line of questioning out the window. 

People only became hard to see when an outside force made them question themselves. No one had ever started out invisible. 

Since then the girl had been very polite about the topic, knowing it didn’t bother Marinette at all made letting it drop easier, but it was certainly still on the journalists mind. Marinette was hyper-aware of the way Alya watched her and Adrien interact, as if she were hoping to crack the code through willpower alone. It would have been sweet if it wasn’t founded on an outright lie. 

The bell rang, causing the group to clamber off the bench. Just as they started to turn into the school, Marinette heard a small voice behind her. 

“Hey guys,” it said. Marinette jumped nearly a foot into the air before collapsing on the ground instead of landing. “Oh god Marinette are you alright?” It continued.

She felt two strong hands wrap around her forearms, pulling her back up to standing. Adrien’s peridot eyes shone down with concern, causing the heat to rise to her face. 

“Fine! You’re fine- I mean, I’m fine, not in the way you’re fine, obviously, because- what am I even saying-” She rambled, pushing her palms into her eyes. She let out a shaky laugh before pulling herself up to her full height. “I’m fine. Thank you for helping me up.” 

“It’s my fault, I didn’t mean to spook you,” he replied with a sheepish grin.

“Honestly your reaction scared me more than Adrien’s sneak greeting, girl you need help.” Alya teased. 

Adrien continued to be engaged in conversation with Alya and Nino as the group headed towards the classroom. Marinette eyed him as she followed, taking in the slightly better concealer job and nervously biting her lip. 

He was still slow to react today, blinking aimlessly in the face of anything directed towards him, but was nodding and laughing along with the conversation like nothing was wrong. Marinette had hoped she would see him before having to put her plan into action, but taking the small shake of his hands and the beats in between his replies and knew that even if he had appeared, she would follow through. 

The school day went on without significant distraction, a relative rarity in the past year. Marinette chalked it up to the fact that Chloe had been absent that particular day. In fact, it seemed like all her classmates were in good moods today. She smiled to herself, letting the wash of laugher and positive chatter wrap her tangle of thoughts into a neat bow. 

When the last bell of the day went off, she tore out of the room, letting Nino and Alya distract Adrien. She ran towards the gym, hoping to catch someone as an alibi. Luckily Kim was leaning against the doorframe, talking animatedly at some first year. 

“Yeah, I mean it’s a bummer that fencing gets to take the gym, but I promise, the basketball team is great! I know track is more my thing, but the team would love to have you!” 

“Hey Kim, sorry to interrupt- is it true that all practices are cancelled for the day? I thought I heard Mr. Damocles earlier…” she trailed off, looking up at her friend.

“Oh man I hope so, I could have the gym to myself! You know I think I heard that too…” he muttered to himself, walking off with the younger student in tow.

With an alibi set, Marinette made her way back to where she had told Nino to be waiting for her, and with only a small amount of surprise managed to find them. She slid up to their conversation, steeling herself before turning to talk. 

“Hi-uh, Adrien? I was just talking to Kim, apparently all practices have been cancelled for today,” she said. Adrien fixed his gaze onto her a minute before smiling. 

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day, thanks for telling me!”

She squeaked, unable to stop the blush from rising to her cheeks as his warm gaze pierced through her. 

“I-, I’m, you’re glad, no, no, well- I mean I guess you are- I’M glad…” She stumbled, frantically looking towards Nino and Alya for help.

“If practice is cancelled, how about we go to Marinettes? Game night? We could watch a movie?” Alya asked, smoothing over her friend’s small breakdown. “What do think sunshine, can you play hooky?” Though the words were not inherently a challenge, Adrien took them as one. 

“Of course I can! Let’s go!” He said confidently, marching down the steps. Unnoticed by him, the three friends shared a small high five before clamoring down the steps.

The walk to Marinette’s was brief and consisted mostly of the boys trash talking the others movie tastes. (“Adrien you think The Cat Returns is a work of art!” “It is a work of art!” “IT MAKES NO SENSE!”) and Alya expressing how well she thought the plan was going. 

“I mean, all of the hard part is done! I’m proud of you, M. Plus you mostly did well when talking to him today!”

“Hah, thanks. Also genuinely thanks for saving me back there, he just smiled and I couldn’t- have you seen how he smiles? I thought my heart stopped,” she whispered, patting her still flushed cheeks. “Now we just have to pick a movie he’ll fall asleep during…” She frowned. What would Adrien not pay attention to? His politeness usually meant that if anyone showed they cared about something, he would be attentive in order to be able to discuss it later. If they picked something none of them were excited about, he would probably try to change it until they were…

“How about we let Marinette decide?” A voice cut through her musing. 

“What?”

“Planet Earth or-”

“Let’s watch that. I haven’t seen it,” she rushed out, interrupting Nino’s question.

“Well okay then. I guess we’re stuck with the boring one,” he teased, reaching back to ruffle her hair. 

The group made their way up to the living room, waving to Marinette’s parents as they passed. Soon enough, all the pillows had been thrown to the floor and several blankets had been pulled out for their movie nest. 

“M, grab the lights will you?” Alya called from her cocoon on the floor. 

Marinette’s head popped out from the kitchen.

“Alya, I am holding four drinks and popcorn, with what hand do you think I can get the lights.”

“Oh, sorry Marinette, let me help!” Adrien broke free of where he had been swaddled by Nino and Alya in the center of their nest, untangling himself from blankets and tripping over a pillow before making it to his friend. “Can I hold something?”

“If you really want to you can grab the drinks, I’ll be there in a moment!” She grinned, mentally congratulating herself on a full sentence. 

After turning out the lights, Marinette scooted herself next to Alya, attempting to get her friend to share the blanket she had wrapped around her. 

“Nah-uh, you’re a blanket hog and you steal my body heat, go share with someone else!”

Marinette pouted, but the expression shortly gave way to a scarlet glow as Adrien offered up his. 

“You can steal some blankets, I don’t mind sharing,” he said kindly. Marinette felt herself be nudged forward, falling ungracefully next to his open arm. Seeming to pick up on her inability to function, Adrien tucked their shared cover around her side. Settling in, he turned to the TV where the opening credits played. Then, as she watched out the corner of her eye, his eyes slowly closed.


	3. A Few Winks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Marinette next opened her eyes, the first thing she registered was that she was sitting on a roof. Spinning to look around her, her heart caught in her throat as she laid eyes on the person standing next to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO was this chapter just a way for me to put off figuring out what's going on with this story? Yes. But it's also moving along the plot points I have already decided on, so hopefully by the next chapter more things can happen. Like a reveal!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

There was a unanimous sigh of relief when Adrien fell asleep. Due to her position she couldn’t turn too much to face Alya or else risk waking him, so when she heard a clicking sound behind her, she had do use Nino’s grin to figure out what was happening.

“Alya I swear to god if you’re taking pictures-”

“Shh, you’ll wake the bear,” Alya chastised, wiggling to get a better vantage point. “Besides, I’ll send you the photos when I’m done.”

“Ninoooo make her stop,” Marinette whined. 

She really was doing her best to be quiet, but before Nino could respond Adrien shifted, curling closer next to her. As her soul escaped her body, Marinette vaguely recognized that her friends were giggling and cooing. Part of her wanted to bolt up and snatch Alya’s phone away from her, but the part that was connected to her eyes couldn’t bear to move the blond boy at her side. 

“Shh, just watch the movie,” she whispered, glaring at her friends. 

They eventually settled down, and one by one they began to fall asleep.

Marinette resisted the urge to join them. Sure, the lull of Adrien’s warmth and the droning voice of the movie was tempting, but falling asleep meant that she wouldn’t be awake to register how Adrien slowly moved to cuddle her. By the time the movie was halfway over, he had his arms wrapped around her middle and looked to be in the process of doing the same with his legs.

If her silence were not the only catalyst for this continuing, Marnette was sure she would’ve squealed. 

His weight on her was incredibly comfortable though, and she was surprised to find herself relaxing more and more into his hold. The narrator continued on, and Marinette blinked at the screen. 

When Marinette next opened her eyes, the first thing she registered was that she was sitting on a roof. Spinning to look around her, her heart caught in her throat as she laid eyes on the person standing next to her. 

“Adrien?” She whispered.

The figure didn’t acknowledge her presence, and stood still as he watched over the city. He was silhouetted to her, and today especially his posture reminded her of Chat. More than once she had nearly asked while on patrols or during quiet lulls in their dreams. Of course, every time it came close Tikki was in her head, reminding her of the promise they had made on the day they both first received their miraculous.

 _My kwami said we can’t reveal our identities or who our soulmates are. Did yours tell you the same thing?_ He had asked. She confirmed that Tikki had mentioned something similar. A few months later, the topic had come up again on a patrol. 

_Plagg told me that other people could come into our soul spaces if we knew. They’re all connected somehow, and the miraculous… makes it easy. For people to get in, I mean._

Tikki had explained a little, but the information boiled down to: people can’t just come in, you could potentially get out. The little god seemed to think it was unlikely with their precautions, but it was still nerve wracking. Every time something unusual happened in her dreams with Adrien, she worried something had gone wrong. 

She reached a hand out to touch the boy on the roof and he finally turned to her. 

“Sorry I’ve been gone bugaboo,” he said, reaching for her hand. Marinette recoiled as he turned to face her, stepping back towards the edge of the roof. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to see me?” He said, smirk growing over his face. “Well then, I’ll just have to purr-suade you.” The smirk turned into a grimace, distorting the usually kind expression into something she didn’t recognize.

The boy who lunged at her was wearing a Chat Noir costume, complete with a mask and ears. She skittered away, leaping off the roof towards the next. 

_Okay Marinette. That’s new, no akuma you’ve already defeated has shown up before._ She thought, racing over buildings. _There’s no way this is the real Chat- but we already defeated Theo..._ The thought made her stomach twist. 

Her panic was cut short by another, blockier figure dropping onto the roof in front of her. It was just a man in a tweed suit who looked to be in his sixties, but was lumbering towards her with uncharacteristic energy for someone his age. 

_Another akuma?_

“I am The Orator! No one will mock my speech ever again!” the man yelled.

“I don’t have time for this!” Marinette yelled, dropping down into an alley. “Go fight the Copy-Cat!” She sprinted away from the scene, ducking and weaving through the familiar-but-empty streets. 

To her surprise, it seemed as if neither one of the possible akuma had followed her. She slowed down, hoping to see if there were any clues as to what was happening or where Adrien was. Everything was quiet in the soul-space. She couldn’t hear The Orator or the imposter Chat, and hoped that meant she could deal with them later.

Nightmares that were sourced from one person were never quiet. When they had been Marinette’s, all the empty air had been filled with mean whispers and harsh criticism. When they had been Adrien’s, it was filled with cold words and the sounds of camera shutters. But here- someplace outside themselves- it was silent.

Marinette made her way to the Agreste mansion. 

She primarily stuck to small streets, checking around and above her before going into more open areas. Quick steps made light work of the trek, and once there Marinette slipped through the gate. The door was open, leading to seemingly nothing. 

Peeking her head in, she was greeted by nothing. The cavernous room stretched like an ocean before her, but a muffled noise coming from the top of the steps caused her body to move without much thought.

Her lungs burned as she tore through the house, flinging open the door to what she knew to be Adrien's room. Darkness greeted her. 

A small sob escaped the room.

Marinette fully entered, and felt herself be swallowed. 

***  
“Please, please leave me alone,” a voice chanted. “I just want to be left alone.”

Blindly searching with her hand, Marinette came in contact with something warm. It jerked at her touch, scrambling out from underneath it. 

“Please sir, just let me leave,” it whimpered.

This time- something touched her.  
***

Gasping for breath, Marinette bolted upright, unknowingly sending a suddenly-conscious Adrien to the floor. She whirled manic eyes searching around her, panicking at the darkness of the room before registering the sleeping forms on either side of her- and then panicking again as a third, much less asleep one sat up. 

“Marinette? Are you okay?” Adrien asked, sleep making his voice groggy. “What time is it?”

His unaffected air made her throat constrict. _Where had he been in the dream? What was that room? Why… what was going on? Her eyes stung as she recalled the events of the dream._ Adrien reached up to wipe a tear from her face, eyes concerned. A small touch on her back let her know Tikki was also there, probably wanting to talk. 

“Bathroom,” she croaked to Adrien, before sprinting off towards her room.

“Marinette, what happened? Did Adrien show up? You were… you normally feel okay when you’re asleep but you were so scared I tried to pull you out!” The little god flew up to her chosen’s face, wiping away the tear tracks that lay there. “Why don’t you call Adrien up, I think it’s time we talked.”

“What?” 

Tikki sighed, patting Marinette on the head.  
“We can’t know what’s happening until we get the whole story. I know I said that he couldn’t know your identity- or you his, but something is different.”

“But… I don’t want him to be hurt. He could get hurt if he knows.”

“We could all get hurt if we stay not knowing. It’s a matter of timing. You didn’t think you would always have to stay away from your soulmate, did you?” Tikki’s small smile placated the rest of the questions that were racing through her mind.

Unable to fully process what was happening, Marinette descended back into the living room, where Adrien had re-started the movie and was apparently waiting for her. He sat up as she entered. 

“Can you come up for a moment?” She asked before he could say anything, looking away as if her expression would give away too much. “I need… I… Can we talk?”

He nodded, following her up the ladder and into her room.


	4. Some Z's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re my soulmate,” he said before she could even open her mouth. 
> 
> It was fortunate really, considering how her mouth gaped open now. She didn’t want to know how much farther it could’ve dropped when starting from open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An exposition chapter! The next one will also probably be more about wtf is going on rather than anything happening. I'm really impatient with my own stories so things are probably going to be weirdly paced in this story- it's something I'm working on but it still a definite weakness!
> 
> Plagg and Tikki know A LOT more than they're letting on. 
> 
> Also, no, that was actually CopyCat in the last chapter- not Adrien!

“Is everything alright?” Adrien asked, sitting down next to Marinette on the floor. “Do you want me to wake up Alya?”

“No- I. I’ve got to talk to you.” She took a deep breath, and let it out with a whine. “Okay. I’ve got this,” she muttered to herself, before sitting straight and looking at Adrien. 

“You’re my soulmate,” he said before she could even open her mouth. 

It was fortunate really, considering how her mouth gaped open now. She didn’t want to know how much farther it could’ve dropped when starting from open. 

“How… what?” 

“Sorry, I should’ve let you go, that was so rude, but I’ve been suspicious for a while because you slapped my butt in a nightmare like two weeks ago but then in person you went really red every time you saw me, plus when we were fighting that akuma I used the same pun I did when we fought him in a dream and I heard you go ‘not again’ under your breath so uh, sorry, I know.” He let out a breath like the news had been a weight lifted off his shoulders, but his eyes seemed glued to the ground. 

“Oh...kay? I’m… wait, then where were you?” Marinette leapt to her feet and started pacing around her room. Adrien stayed with his eyes trained to the carpet. “Copycat and some guy named the Orator were there and you weren’t! Then I get sucked into some- some portal- and you STILL weren’t there! Where have you been? WHY haven’t you been sleeping?” 

Turning to face him, her mind caught up to the rest of his admission. 

“What do you mean I said not again?”

Slowly a blush crept up Adrien’s face, causing him to sink lower to the floor. 

“Sorry, my lady.” He whispered. 

Marinette groaned. Though her body was still tense from her time in the soulspace, knowing for sure that her partner was also her soulmate caused her mind to shift into gear. Without a word she grabbed the notebook from under the chaise, grabbed a pen, and sat back down in front of Adrien.

“Okay minou. One step at a time. First step- why aren’t you looking at me?” She muttered. His eyes snapped up to her face, and he seemed shocked that she too sported a rosy tinge. 

“You’re not mad?”

Marinette blinked. He continued to look at her incredulously. She blinked again. 

“Why would I be mad? Because I just had the worst soulscape experience? That’s not your fault,” she asked blankly. 

“You never really seemed that interested in me as your soulmate, I thought…” He trailed off, once again gazing intently at the floor. “I thought maybe you didn’t want me?” He offered quietly.

Marinette wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. She felt her mouth move, she registered hearing her voice give an echoey “what”, but her mind remained on pause. Why had she been so scared to act with care around Adrien? She knew at some point he would know about their bond, why had she let her fear dictate so much of her actions?

She scooted closer to him, putting her hand under his chin to tilt it up towards her. His eyes were wide and his brow furrowed as she moved to put her hands on either side of his face. 

“Adrien Agreste. I’m sorry you got stuck with someone who’s so scared of her own emotions that she can’t act right, but I never, ever want you to doubt whether or not anyone wants you ever again. Especially me.” She stared at him a moment longer before wrapping him into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Adrien. Chat.” 

She pulled back and was taken aback by the tears that were on his face. He surged forward, burying his face into her neck. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I can’t find you anymore it’s like- I mean I thought you maybe didn’t like me and that was why I couldn’t find you anywhere? But also I’ve just been hoping that if I stayed away for a little then next time I would be able to see you, where do you go?” He sobbed. “I’ve been so worried and when you woke up you were crying, what do you mean a portal?”

Marinette rubbed circles into his back, fighting back her own tears. 

“What do _you_ mean that you couldn’t find me? I didn’t stop seeing you until you stopped sleeping,” she replied. 

They sat in each other embrace for a while, both thinking of how best to tackle the issue. Once Adrien had completely stopped crying. A pair of small paws rested on Marinette’s cheek, causing her to jerk away. 

“Hi.” 

“PLAGG! They were having a moment! Why would you interrupt them!” Tikki screeched, flying up to the floating black cat. 

“They can have moments later, we need to talk about what’s going on!” the nasally voice replied. “Now if we can get back to this little notebook of your bugs…” he said, zipping towards it. 

Adrien grumbled at his kwami, swatting at him as she flipped open the book. 

“Nice to meet you, Plagg,” Marinette laughed. “I suppose this is as good as any place to start. I’ve been trying to document the patterns of our dreams that aren’t our nightmares. Tikki told me that they occur in in the ‘open’ area of soulspace. Each set of soulmates has their own allotment and somehow we got pulled out of ours.”

She looked at Adrien carefully. He was skimming the first entry Marinette had made from their first dream in the open soulspace, and grinned up at her. 

“Adrien doesn’t seem as sad here. I hope we have more time in this place,” he read, cheshire smile stretching across his cheeks.

Marinette snatched the book up before he could read further. 

“OKAY, let’s start by letting me fill you in on what I just went through while I write it down- and then we can go back and add to the previous entries.” The words came out confidently enough, but Adrien continued to preen as the glow on her face stayed. She rolled her eyes and put pen to paper.

“I fell asleep before nightfall, around 6:00PM, and woke up in the open soulspace. As always, I was on a roof-” she wrote, pausing when Adrien made a noise.

“You start on a roof? I always seem to start in my room.” 

“But you always seem to show up so fast after I get there. I wonder if you fall asleep faster than I do…”

“If I might interrupt,” Tikki’s tinikling voice said, breaking though the pause, “Marinette you always appear as Ladybug. Ladybug tends to be on the rooftops. Adrien doesn’t appear as Chat, so he starts out in his room.”

“Why would that matter?” Adrien asked quickly. “It’s still us, why don’t we either both appear in our rooms, or both on the roofs?” 

Tikki shrugged, looking to Plagg for back up. He rolled his head to the side, squinting at his charge. 

“Dunno. Probably has more to do with why you guys can even access outside of your own section of soulspace,” he offered. 

“Okay hold on-do you guys know why we can?” Marinette looked towards Adrien, who was now return Plagg’s stare. 

“We have an idea. Marinette, keep going through the dream you just had- okay?” Tikki guided.

“Okay… So on the roof, I look around and realize someone is there too. I first think it’s Adrien, but when he turns to face me it’s Chat.” Adrien shoots her a confused look. “When he speaks I realize it’s probably Copy Cat, who we had first fought in a dream-” Marinette leaved through the book to find the entry on Theo. “-about four months ago. Instead of how future akuma normally look, he was in his full costume. He growled at me so I ran away.”

“An akuma we already beat was there? And worse, it was him?!” Adrien interjected. Marinette leveled his gaze and he turned to pout. “I don’t like that imposter,” he mumbled. 

“Anyway… As I ran away, a normal looking future akuma showed up. He was elderly…” Marinette continued to fill the page while Adrien listened. 

When she got to the part where the door to his room was open, Adrien stopped her. 

“You heard what from my room?”

“I thought I heard someone crying. I just had this moment where I remembered all your nightmares about being alone and ran in. In all honesty I don’t even remember if it sounded like you, but I wasn’t really thinking it through,” she explained, shaking her head. “I ran into your room and then it felt like I was falling. When the sensation stopped there was someone- something- still crying in the dark. I tried to touch it but it moved out of my reach. It… it asked me to leave it alone. I started to panic because it wasn’t you, and then it felt like someone grabbed me and I woke up.”

“That last part was me,” Tikki said. “I could feel how scared you were and pulled you out. As you might know, miraculous come from the soulspace so it’s easier for us to feel what’s going on. We can only feel the general area though, not into individual sections. Everyone has their own little pocket where the soulmate set can meet each other, otherwise everyone would get lost.”

Adrien was frowning. A dark space, someone crying- those both sounded like the nightmares he used to have after his mom went missing. But someone being asked to be left alone?

“When I’m in the soulspace, all I can see is the dark,” he offered after a moment of contemplation. “That’s what I meant when I said I couldn’t find you, it’s like everything’s gone. Plagg has had to pull me out twice,” he said, exchanging a look with his kwami.

“If this dark space or whatever is in your room, it could be that you get pulled in every time you’re there,” Plagg said, “that would make sense why you can’t find a way out or anything. When you were asleep just now, did you hear anything? Bug coming in, the voice she heard?” 

Adrien shook his head slowly. 

“When I realized that I had started dreaming, everything was dark still. I didn’t hear anything but my back was up against a really cold surface- like a metal wall or something. I had just started to stand up to try to find a way out when Marinette woke up.”

The four of them sat in silence for a while. There were so many questions, so many things to be explored, but it was already so late.

“ALYA!” Marinette screeched suddenly, taking off through the trap door. 

Adrien shared a confused look with the kwami’s before following her down.

“Als, Nino, wake up! We all fell asleep, it’s super late- c’moooon wake up!” She was jostling each of them when Adrien walked into the room and saw the time. 

“Nathalie is going to kill me!” he yelled, scrambling as he looked for his phone. 

Slowly their friends stirred awake, wiping sleep from their eyes. Alya was the first to sit up completely. Looking around at the scene in front of her, it was a little hard to understand what was happening. Adrien was shaking out all the blankets, and Marinette was trying to pull Nino up. They were talking to each other. Something about sleep, something about Nathalie, and something about finding the light. 

Shrugging, she stood and walked over to the lightswitch, flicking it on with a grimace. 

“Is that what you wanted?” 

The teens stopped and stared at her. Then, to Alya’s complete bewilderment, they turned to each other and high fived. 

“That’s it!” Adrien said, while Marinette jumped up and down. 

Friends are loud and weird, Alya thought. She turned to Nino, who was glaring at her from the floor. 

“C’mon, get up Lahiffe. We gotta go finish untangling your sound equipment before your show,” she mumbled, nudging him with her foot. He stilled underneath her prodding before shooting up from the floor.  
“What?” 

“Your show? You were freaking out-” she trailed off, eyes going wide. Grabbing his hand, she yanked him off the floor and into a hug. “Bye Mari, you’re right, it’s late, we gotta go!” She called as she picked her belongings up off the ground. 

Tugging Nino outside behind her, she missed the shy hugs and whispers of the friends still in the room.


	5. Like a Log

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien grinned and leaned down quickly to place a kiss on her cheek. He winked as he left, but Marinette was more than glad to see the flush on his face that ruining the full effect of his bravado. She waved from the living room window when he turned to look at her from the street. 
> 
>  
> 
> Adventures in the soulspace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pacing, what's pacing? This bitch doesn't know!
> 
> I love hearing y'all speculate about what's going on- so if you have guesses leave a comment!

“I really have to go, but text me?” Adrien asked, looking down at Marinette.

“Yeah- I will. Please sleep tonight kitty- we’ll find the light in there somewhere. I’ve never tried calling lucky charm before, maybe Tikki will give me a flashlight,” she joked, poking his nose. 

He grinned and leaned down quickly to place a kiss on her cheek. He winked as he left, but Marinette was more than glad to see the flush on his face that ruining the full effect of his bravado. She waved from the living room window when he turned to look at her from the street. 

Turning away, Marinette was surprised to see two figures standing in the kitchen.

“Maman! Papa! I- sorry they stayed over so long- the movie was, we all fell asleep, but then-” she rambled as her arms gestured frantically. 

“So you told Adrien? I’m so proud of you cherie!” Her father cut off her rambling, scooping the petite girl into a monsterous hug. 

“That’s been a long time coming, what made you decide?” Sabine was more gentle in her embrace. 

“He actually figured it out first,” Marinette mumbled, “we both fell asleep watching the movie and- well when we woke up he knew.” 

Sticking to mostly the truth had been Marinette’s guidelines after becoming Ladybug. Her parents knew her soulmate was a boy named Adrien, and when she had introduced him with flaming ears for the game competition, they had easily figured it out. They also knew Adrien had never called her by her name in the dreams, but before becoming ladybug it was always “My Lady” meaning her parents still didn’t have a clue into her superhero life. 

She grinned at her parents continued gushing. They had encouraged her, much like Alya had, to tell Adrien from the start. Sabine and Tom had a fairly average soulmate story, and were thus very invested in their daughters more… unique situation. Tom had suggested she make him a cake, with a card that said “from your lady,” while Sabine had gunned for just telling him outright. 

“Oh sweetheart, we’re so happy for you. Of course, we’ll have to have him and Gabriel over for dinner…” Sabine trailed off, looking towards her husband with a small smile. “Yes, we’ve been meaning to have a him with him for awhile.”

“Now now Sab, you can’t fight our daughter’s future father-in-law because we differ on our parenting techniques,” chastised Tom lightly, shooting a knowing glance towards Marinette’s blanched face, “besides, let’s let the kids figure some things out on their own. Goodnight Mari!”

Watching her parents retreat left Marinette slightly hollow. Another opportunity to tell them the truth had passed, and even though it was for a good reason, she couldn’t help but hate the bitterness left in her veins from lying. She shook her head, knocking the thoughts out. 

“Okay,” she whispered to herself, “time to get to work.”

Once in her room, Marinette fell onto her chaise with the notebook. They had made pretty good progress before realizing the time, and it wouldn’t take very long for her to finish up the journal entry. 

She hastily added a list of the questions Adrien had brought up, as well as what had been happening to him in the soulspace. The page filled quickly as the night replayed in Marinette’s mind. At the very bottom she made a note of Alya’s behavior when they had woken up. 

_Alya turned on the lights in the room, and apparently Adrien and I were on the same page- the soulspace is based off of the real world, which means we can probably find a light in that dark place. I joked about calling lucky charm, but I think I might actually try it. Alya seems to have had a dream about a nightmare Nino would have! It would be cool if they were soulmates, but I’ll let Alya come to me when she’s ready._

Marinette put her pen down. Even though she had had her first soul dream as a child, she knew it was uncommon. Tikki had explained that souls needed to be “ready” before they can actually connect to the soulspace. It had more to do with strength than anything apparently. Miraculous holders have to have fast developing souls, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to bear the weight of the transformation. 

Marinette knew that most people had their first dreams starting around fourteen. The average starting window extended all the way to twenty, but it seemed like most of their class was starting to have theirs. 

The first pair had been Juleka and Rose. The morning after their first souldream, Juleka had sprinted clear across the courtyard, thanking Rose over and over for helping her through some bizzare horror filled family reunion. A month later, Ivan had held a teary Mylene, reminding her he would always be there to unmask the monsters. Chloe had insisted that she too had met her soulmate, some famous actress from Sweden, but few seemed to believe her. 

If Alya and Nino were soulmates too, that would make four pairs of soulmates in their class alone. Marinette sat up. She and Adrien hadn’t talked at all about how they were going to act in class. Could other people know? Would they show it? Were they dating now? 

Thousands of questions rushed through her mind, none relating to the superhero ones that had been flooding her thoughts before.

Her phone lit up in the midst of her crisis, putting the deluge on pause.

**From: <3 Adrien <3  
I’m about to go to bed my Lady. Plagg is ready to pull me out of something happens, so hopefully I’ll see you soon ^_~ Sweet dreams!**

Right. They had a job to do. Marinette honestly wasn’t sure how Adrien had her number, but she was glad he had texted first. The casualness of the “sweet dreams” tacked on to the end irked her a little. Sweet dreams? They had to have their pocket-gods watching over them in case something became dangerous! Sweet dreams her ass. 

She sighed, rising to her feet. She slowly made her way around her room, changing into an old t-shirt of her father’s, brushing her teeth, small tasks to keep her moving. Soon enough, there was nothing left to do but slip into bed. 

Tikki came and rested next to her shoulder, patting it lightly. 

“I’m going to be right here Marinette. You and Adrien are just trying to figuring out what’s going on right now- okay? You don’t need to worry about fighting or anything,” she said. 

“Thank’s Tikki, that helps,” Marinette replied.

They exchanged goodnight’s and Marinette slowly drifted off to sleep.

She was on a roof again. Different from last time, she was closer to Adrien’s house, and very much alone. The soulspace was quiet. She scanned the area briefly, but there was no movement. No would-be akuma, no already defeated akuma, just open sky and streets. She swung the few buildings over to the Agreste Manor, landing softly in front of the gate. 

Just like earlier it was slightly ajar, the front door propped like someone had just passed through. She made her way up to Adrien’s room, pausing outside. There was no noise coming from inside this time, but it was just as dark.

“Okay Adrien- let’s find you,” Marinette whispered to herself before stepping inside.

Once again, darkness entombed her. It felt as if the lack of light filled her lungs and left room for nothing else. She breathed out slowly. Unmoving, she willed herself to focus on what she could hear. 

A small whimper came from somewhere- much farther away than before. The unintelligible noise caused her skin to crawl. Someone was down here. She pushed her hands against the floor she was sitting on, sliding them around before one brushed against a wall. She led her body up by her hand, finding with some surprise that she could rise fully without hitting a ceiling.

The surfaces were smooth and cold. Marinette shuffled forward, keeping a palm flat against the wall with her other hand stretched out in front of her. She moved towards the noise, slightly hoping she would run into Adrien before reaching it. 

“Hello?” she called out, wincing as her voice cut through the relative quiet of the room.

The whimpering stopped.

Marinette held her breath, pausing her motions as she strained to hear. 

“Hello?” A quiet voice responded. 

“Who’s there?” She called again, louder this time. 

“Marinette?” 

She whirled around to where a new voice had called her name, keeping her arms outstretched. One made solid contact, causing her to jump back. 

“Ouch fuck Mari-” 

“Adrien?” 

“-You hit my head, are you standing? Where are you?” 

A hand came into contact with her thigh, and she reached down to touch it. Grasping with both hands, she pulled Adrien up. Despite the darkness, their proximity caused her to blush. Their encounter had caused her to lose the wall, but holding on to Adrien seem much more orienting than trying to find it again. 

“So where the hell are we?” Adrien asked, cutting through her thoughts. 

“I’ve got no clue. Were you walking towards the crying too?”

“I could hear your feet so I was actually working towards that. Let me tell you, crawling around this space is not comfortable.” He laughed, but it seemed forced. “Should we keep going?” he asked. 

She nodded, forgetting her couldn’t see her. Gripping tight onto one of his hands, she once again outstretched her arm, hoping to eventually find the wall. 

Their commotion seemed to alter what the other thing in the room was doing. They could hear shifting, and every so often a small “help” would be clear though the crying. The pair slowly worked their way towards it, occasionally pausing when a different noise required their attention. Marinette led them, fingers skimming the cold wall. 

Suddenly, her hand lost contact. She stopped, leaning towards where it had been, but found nothing. 

“Adrien, I think there’s an opening here, we’re going to turn down it, okay?”

“Alright my Lady. You know I’d follow you anywhere,” he replied, squeezing her hand.

They rounded the corner slowly, Adrien pressed close behind Marinette. Once they had both stepped through, there was a flood of searing white light. Free hands flew up to cover eyes, just as a voice clear as day shot through them.

“You found me.”

Pain ripped through Marinette’s body, her arms and legs suddenly weighted as if chained. She heard Adrien cry out and felt her heart sink through her chest.

Then there were gaspings breaths as Marinette bolted upright, sweating and shaky while Tikki flitted around her head. Her room was dark but visible, and Marinette felt her whole body sink into her bed in relief.


	6. Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette stared at her bedroom ceiling. Nightmares ended when they were fixed. How long would this one take?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi party people! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I really wanted to balance out the seriousness of their experiences in this chapter- a calm before an expositional storm so to speak.
> 
> Thanks for supporting this story! Love y'all!

“You screamed so I pulled you out- are you okay? What happened?” The barrage of questions stopped as Marinette’s phone lit up. She scrambled to unhook it from its cable and pressed accept.

“Mari are you okay? Did Tikki take you out?” Came Adrien’s panicked voice from the speakers. “What was that?”

“I’m- yeah, Tikki said I screamed. I- what the hell, that- nothing has ever hurt before,” she whispered, rubbing her wrists. In the dim light of her room it was hard to see, but it felt like there were welts on her skin. “Did you feel the wrist cuff things? Where did the light come from?”

“I felt like my mind had been put through an electric fence. Are you writing this down? Should I talk slower?” 

Marinette shakily climbed down to where the notebook sat. Tikki nuzzled her face as she flipped through to a new page. 

“Okay, I’m ready now- let’s recap…”she said, letting out a long breath before putting pen to paper.

Together, Adrien and Marinette painstakingly recounted their dream in detail, the texture of the walls, how he found her (“Really? You just… crawled? What if you hit something?”), and what she thought the layout of the room might be. Occasionally Tikki or Plagg would interject with questions, and Marinette made sure to list them in as well.

“Kid, you said it felt like it was hurting your brain, but spots felt it in her body- you sure neither of you felt anything else?”

“I mean, now I feel like my brain is fried, but I really only felt the pain in my arms and legs during the dream. Adrien?”

“Yeah, aside from the soreness of crawling around all of the hurt was through my mind. Why?”

There was silence on Adrien’s end of the phone. Marinette looked at Tikki questioningly, but the little god waited with a slight frown. A beat turned into two, until-

“I think Tikki and I need to talk to the Guardian.”

“Master Fu?”

“Who?”

Marinette and Adrien spoke at the same time, and she winced at the realization Adrien still hadn’t met the man who gave them their miraculous. It wasn’t that she had intentionally let him stay out of the know, but there were really too many secrets to keep a hold of who needed to know what and when for a girl to handle on her own. 

“We’ll go while you’re at school. Just drop us off on your way.” Tikki’s voice rang out clear through Marinette’s introspection. 

“I guess we should probably try to sleep a little more before school. I dunno about you, but I’m happy to just walk around the soulspace if we end up dreaming again. What do you think Mari?”

She nodded before remembering he couldn’t see her through the phone.

“Yeah kitty, that sounds fine. I doubt we’ll be pulled in again though- three times in one day? Seems excessive,” she tried to tease, but her voice was a little too tight. “Goodnight! Again…” 

“See you in a few hours Bug. We should probably walk to school together,” Adrien replied with a yawn. “I’ll figure it out. Bye!” 

A click and then nothing. Marinette pulled herself up off the floor, stretching as she went. A few joints popped and she sighed in relief. There were plenty of things for an average high schooler to be stressed out about. Tests, parents, friendships- all could be a significant challenge on their own, but she just had to be a superhero on top of it. 

It wasn’t too often that being Ladybug got to her, but when it did the weight of the world seemed to settle into her bones. Looking to Tikki helped, and knowing Chat always had her back made the world a little brighter, but at 3:30 in the morning, standing in a dim room after an unfixable nightmare? Well, let’s just say she wished the world could take care of its own fucking self for once. 

Nightmares would end. That was something her mom said all the time. Soulmates are to help remind us that we’re never alone, even when bad things happen. Solving a nightmare meant easy sleeping the rest of the night or even week for some. Repeated dreaming usually only happened when something bad was going on in a soulmate’s life. It’s said that it’s to help provide support- the more times your soulmate can save you the more likely you are able to handle whatever’s going on or something like that.

Marinette stared at her bedroom ceiling. Nightmares ended when they were fixed. How long would this one take?

***

Sabine and Tom were more than thrilled to see Adrien at the bakery door that morning. They ushered him upstair to where their daughter was inevitably still sleeping, and the second his back slipped through the door they shared a small squeak of excitement. 

“Our baby girl! Ahh who knew we could be such lucky parents,” Tom sighed. His wife moulded herself against his side, and smiled up at him. 

“Don’t be silly. We always knew everything would work out. Especially- I mean you hear stories of kids having their first dreams, but to have hers be so young- how could anything but wonder follow something like that?” Sabine patted her teary husband on the back before turning back to their shop. “Besides, once we knew it was Adrien…”

Upstairs the boy in question was standing in the middle of his soulmates room, blushing furiously in the direction of a wall. All around him were little noises that made him want to look, also maybe to offer help, but he stayed stock still.

“Sorry, sorry! Tikki- ah shit where’s my shoe- Tikki and I both must’ve slept through the alarm, this happens with pretty- found it!- surprising regularity,” Marinette said as she ran around her room. By the time she had raced past him to brush her teeth, Adrien was confident he had managed to erase the image of a pajama-clad, drowsy Marinette peeking at him over the covers. 

Her eyes had slowly lit up, she had let out a happy little hum- and then “Good morning hot stuff.”

Adrien’s brain couldn’t really handle the slow but deep affection her eyes had shown, and the noise was bordering on too much affection for his starved threshold to handle, but the last bit? K.O.

A small tap on his shoulder got him to break out of his trance. 

“Ready?”

It was a simple question, but Adrien found himself stuck on the answer. Not solely because in order to hide the welts from their dream, Marinette was wearing white jeans and a long sleeved pink crop top. Not solely because he was nervous about dropping of their kwami’s either. Instead, a combination of adoration, excitement, and anxiety kept his feet rooted to the floor and his mouth steadfastly shut. 

Watching his expression, Marinette slowly wrapped him in a hug. 

“I’m nervous too Adrien. What if there’s an attack and they’re still at Master Fu’s? Honestly I’ve gotten so used to Tikki helping me find what I need in my purse that I don’t think I can do it on my own any more,” she giggled. “But we’ll only be a block from them at most, so let’s go, okay?”

Tom waved to the pair as they left the bakery, putting a few pastries in their hands as they walked past. They continued down the street until Marinette led them down a side street Adrien hadn’t noticed before.

“C’mon, he’s at the end of the path. See his garden?” 

“Woah- there are so many turtles!”

Adrien’s exclamation caused a head to pop up from behind a bush. The man slowly got to his feet as Marinette rushed over to him. 

“Good morning paris’s superheros, shouldn’t you be heading to school?”

“Hello Master Fu,” Marinette said, gesturing for Adrien to stand next to her, “I know you’ve met, but this is Adrien. Tikki and Plagg were hoping to have a word with you today while we we’re in class. Do you mind?”

“Of course not. Come in for a moment,” he replied, walking inside the house.

The front room was clearly set up to be part of a business. Adrien scanned the walls and surfaces for any clue that this man was the guardian. While he and Marinette continued to exchange comments, Adrien couldn’t help but feel a little left out.

“-and Chat Noir of course. You’ve been doing very well Adrien.” 

Master Fu’s voice was deep, even, and calm. That was not Master Fu’s voice. Adrien turned around and came face to face with a floating turtle. 

“Hello, I’m Wayzz.”

“Ah, hello! Are you a kwami?”

Plagg flew out of Adrien’s bag, joining Wayzz in the air. Tikki joined them, hugging the turtle tight while Plagg rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, I am the Guardian’s kwami. I’ve been waiting for you two to show up. You’re missing from your soulspace,” Wayzz said with a slight frown. Turning towards Master Fu, he continued, “but right now is not the time. We will discuss for the moment, but you two must hurry.”

“Oh crap we’ve got five minutes to get to school, thanks Wayzz! Thanks Master Fu! We’ll be back!” Marinette grabbed Adrien’s hand and dragged him outside, looking back over her shoulder to catch his confused expression. “I know it’s a lot to explain, I promise I will, but we need to make some decisions for today.”  
“Oh, okay, like what?”

“Ummm… like… do we let other people know? That we’re soulmates- I mean Alya knows you’re mine, I ah… I told her I was invisible to you.” Marinette looked down sheepishly. “Also, I mean, like with Rose and Jules… and Ivan and Mylene.. They all started…” she looked at him, as if begging him to understand where she was heading so she didn’t have to say the words.

Unfortunately, Adrien had no idea what she was leading towards. She let out a little embarrassed noise. 

“They all started dating right away- how do we field questions if people ask?”

Adrien’s face might as well have caught fire. He hadn’t really given any thought to their… relationship, now that they knew they were soulmates. He was pretty sure they weren’t platonic soulmates, but if Marinette thought they were…

He flashed back to all the times Ladybug had brushed off his flirty jokes. 

“Do you want to be dating?” His voice had apparently not gotten the message that his brain was going into overdrive. Marinette mumbled something but he couldn’t quite hear. 

“Sorry, that was probably not where you were going with this conversation, I didn’t mean to assume, I just-”

“If you’re gonna ask me out you’re going to have to do it better than that Chaton.”

Adrien could almost here the record scratch play in his mind as she spoke. Sure, she was firetruck red, but her pose had gone from wilting to assertive, her hands on her hips and a small smirk playing on her lips. 

He smiled too. There was never too much need to worry when it came to Marinette after all. They were partners, best friends, and soulmates. He plucked one of her hands from it’s place on her waist, enjoying the way her eyes went wide as he wrapped his other arm around her back. 

“Of course My Lady. Would you take an alley cat like me to be your significant other?” 

“Of course Adrien. That still doesn’t answer-”

“YOU FINALLY TOLD HIM!” Alya’s voice cut through the courtyard, causing first everyone to stare at her, and then follow where she was pointing. 

“Well I suppose everyone knows now,” Marinette said weekly. Adrien laughed, resting his head on top of hers.  
“They would’ve found out eventually,” he replied, smoothing her hair and pulling away.

Alya marched up to them with a smile that seemed almost painful it was so wide. 

“I also have soulmate news! Nino and I are platonic soulmates!” She yelled, bouncing up and down. 

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. Apparently they had both caught the reason behind Alya’s rush to leave the night before. Marinette suspected they were likely platonic due to Alya being gay, and Adrien didn’t seem surprised either.

“Makes sense, y’all are the perfect balance to each other. I’m so happy for you!” Marinette squealed, wrapping her best friend in a hug. 

“Damn, Alya got to y’all first!” Nino cried, approaching the group from the building. “I got to school early to tell Adrien, but someone wasn’t here!” He said, narrowing his eyes. Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and intertwined their fingers. 

“Sorry man, I was a little busy this morning,” he replied with a grin. 

Nino made a loud “whoop!” as they entered the classroom, causing eyes to once again rest on the pair holding hands. 

_The class has lost their minds_ was the only thing Marinette thought as loud cheers broke through the room. _That’s the only explanation for this._ Kim and Alix ran up to dogpile Adrien, while just about everyone else came up to offer their congratulations to Marinette. 

“Oh we’ve had a feeling for so long! Why else would you look at him with such love!” Rose gushed, patting the hand Juleka had placed on her shoulder rapidly. “Oh I love love!” She squealed, her eyes tearing up.

“I’m happy for you,” Juleka said before guiding rose to the box of tissues on their shared desk.

The class settled as Madame Bustier walked in. Marinette slid into her seat next to Alya, who took in her pink cheeks and slightly wild expression for the overwhelmed feeling it was. 

“You should have been getting attention too,” the dark hair girl muttered.

“We’ll announce it tomorrow,” Alya whispered back, laughing as Marinette pouted.

Maybe today would be a good day.


	7. Are Made of These

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At that moment, Marinette happened to look up and saw a large chess piece falling out of the sky. Grabbing Alya’s hand she raced forward, knocking the two boys out of the trajectory of the pawn. 
> 
> “Get inside! Alya, Nino, c’mon,” Marinette yelled.

News spread of Adrien and Marinette’s confirmed soul bond quickly, and many of their teachers seemed quite relieved that the looks Marinette directed towards Adrien were no longer one sided. Marinette was also relieved, of course, but she couldn’t help the blush that rose to her cheeks when ever their eyes met.

When classes broke for lunch Alya tugged them all towards a new cafe that had opened nearby. She seemed to be more than happy to talk about herself and Nino for the time being, which Marinette was grateful for. 

It was hard to keep a story straight when you had two secret identities to protect, as well as a ridiculous knowledge of soulmates, and of course, the problems they had been encountering. Marinette wasn’t sure how fast Adrien was on his feet about lying, but if his rate of puns was similar… well, they would probably be okay. 

“So yeah! Funny how our first soul dream ended up being while we’re sleeping in the same room,” Alya laughed, turning to Nino.

“Yeah dudes, especially since it seemed to fix Mari’s invisibility too. What actually happened for you two?”

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, before turning to speak.

“Well you see…”

“So what happened…”

They looked at each other again and laughed, causing Alya mutter “and you ever doubted you were soulmates” while Nino grinned. Adrien gestured for Marinette to explain.

“Basically once I finally fell asleep he just.. Called my name. I turned around and he could see me, I could see him, it was like... “ she floundered, gesturing with her hands.

“It was like a spell was broken-” cut in Adrien, grabbing one of Marinette’s hand from the air and holding it, “everything clicked.”

“That so cute my dudes! It’s like the nightmare was that you couldn’t see her,” Nino gushed. 

The four of them continued to chatter as they went about their lunch. By the time they were walking back to school, it seemed everyone was content to talk about the newest movies coming out, causing a resurgence of the arguments from the day prior. 

“Look man, I’m not saying every movie you like is bad, but the Sailor Moon movie? It’s bad.”  
“That’s only because you didn’t watch the show! Crystal alone doesn’t count! Regardless, the Card Captor-”

At that moment, Marinette happened to look up and saw a large chess piece falling out of the sky. Grabbing Alya’s hand she raced forward, knocking the two boys out of the trajectory of the pawn. 

“Get inside! Alya, Nino, c’mon,” she yelled, pushing them inside a business they were passing, only to be yanked around the waist once they were inside. Adrien was holding her around her middle with her feet hanging above the sidewalk, allowing her to see the checkerboard appearing under their feet. It slowly climbed up the door, effectively trapping the patrons, as well as Alya and Nino inside. 

“Sorry My Lady, I wasn’t sure, I thought it might turn us into chess pieces too.”

“It’s okay Chaton, good thinking, let’s get going.”

Adrien set her down. She grabbed his hand, looking back over her shoulder to see Alya pointing behind them through the window. Following her line of sight, Marinette could easily find the akuma. He was standing on the roof of a building that was completed covered in the checker pattern, shouting commands at the chess pieces. 

Adrien pulled at her hand, leading them down a side street that would hopefully have a good place to transform. 

“Kid, there’s a dumpster, go there,” said Plagg, whizzing up next to Adrien’s ear. He turned sharply, pulling Marinette in behind him.

“Plagg, claws out!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

The two teens kept their eyes locked on each other as their transformations took hold. 

“It’s one thing to know that you’re you, and very very different to see it happen,” Marinette said, reaching out to touch one of Chat’s ears. 

“Yeah, I feel the same, it’s a lot to process. Cool though,” Adrien replied with a grin. 

“Alright cool-cat, let’s get this akuma!” With a wink, Ladybug tossed her yoyo up towards the roof and took off. 

Chat shot up with his baton, determined to keep up.   
Working together was something that always felt second nature to Marinette, but after knowing for a fact that Chat was Adrien? It was like a dream. This particular akuma had shown up just before Adrien stopped sleeping, and fighting him was nearly play for play the same as it had been then.

It was most helpful when it came to identifying the item that contained the butterfly. The Grand Master, as he called himself, had a small rook in the center of the timer that was difficult to catch, but a lucky charm (a small sticky hand) was enough to successfully retrieve it. 

“Bye bye little butterfly,” Marinette cooed, waving as the white insect took flight. 

Adrien raised his fist to bump hers, smiling widely as she returned the gesture. They knew she only had moments before transforming back, but there was something about this particular transformation that felt harder to leave. Adrien seemed to share in her hesitation, and let his fingers intertwine with hers. 

Marinette tugged on his hand lightly, guiding them further along the roof where they stood as to be out of sight from wandering eyes. Her earrings beeped their final warning before pink light washed over them. 

“Ah, it feels so nice to have properly connected holders again!” Tikki chirped, digging into Marinette’s purse. 

She arose with a cookie in her mouth, but stilled as she met the confused look directed towards her. 

“What?”

“Properly connected?” asked Adrien. 

“Yeah! When you two realize your soulmate bond it’s easier for us to pull power from the soulspace. That is where we come from, after all.” 

Chat’s transformation dropped as Plagg pulled himself from the ring, flying up to meet Tikki on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Sugarcube, I think that’s something for the guardian-”

“Is that why we can fight akuma in our dreams? Is the butterfly miraculous also in the soulspace?” Marinette’s voice was steady, but her eyes clouded with thought.

“It’s possible, but that is something for the Guardian to discuss,” Plagg said, throwing a look over to Tikki.   
She shrugged in response, oblivious to the bewildered expression Adrien wore. He glanced at Marinette, hoping she shared in his confusion, but she was muttering to herself as she walked figure-eights. 

“Okay, I get to ask- what’s going on? Why are you two acting like each other?”

“Oh this always happens after transforming. We merge slightly, it helps you two work better together,” Plagg said, floating up to pat his charge on the cheek, “it’s probably just stronger today for reasons Tikki already spoiled.”

Adrien felt like he had whiplash. Marinette was still off in problem-solving-land, so he tried to remember all the times Plagg had been extra nice to him. 

“I guess I thought you were too tired to be mean,” he said slowly, looking towards the kwami. 

“Yeah, Marinette assumes I’m crabby because I’m tired. It works out well!” Tikki said, brushing the crumbs off her face. “But I really have overstepped this time, that goes to show how putting on airs of apathy really don’t help anything.”

“Whatever, it wasn’t that bad,” grumbled Plagg. “We gonna get back to your friends, kid?”

“Shit! We’ve been gone for a while, Alya and Nino are gonna be so worried!”

Adrien grabbed Marinette’s hand, earning him a surprised squeak as he led her down the fire escape. They rushed back to the front of the coffee shop where Marinette had essentially stashed them, but were nowhere to be found.

“Maybe they went back to school?” Adrien wondered aloud, watching as Marinette checked her phone. 

“Maybe…” she said, worrying her lower lip. “We should head back too then. I’ll tell Alya that’s where we’re going.”

The pair of them meandered back towards the school in contemplative silence, each caught up in their own minds. As the building came into sight, Adrien turned to Marinette. 

“Can we hang out after school today?”

“Will you be allowed? Don’t you have chinese?”

“Yeah, but after? It’s not like we have a curfew,” he teased, flicking her miraculous. She laughed, breaking through the weight of her thoughts. 

“Sure thing kitty. We have some things to talk about anyway.”

Adrien’s face must’ve showed some of the disappointment he felt at the words, because Marinette stopped walking and took his hands. 

“We can set a timer. No business things after it goes off, okay?” She asked, giving him a shy smile. 

“Okay,” he breathed, pulling her in for a hug. 

They stayed wrapped in each other for a minute longer, enjoying the simultaneous newness and familiarity of their proximity. It was an odd thing to be connected. Touch was still fresh, an exhilarating experience every time if only for the previous lack, but the heartbeat that echoed through them was a shared anchor. 

Marinette was the first to pull away, holding his hands for a moment longer before letting go. 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding the earnest blue eyes that pierced through him. 

“We should keep going, don’t want anyone to worry-”

“WORRY? Oh look Nino, did you hear, he thinks we might be WORRIED,” Alya shouted, stomping towards them. “Where have you two been! Do you know how scary it was to see you guys nearly get smushed!”

“Alya we’re fine! We just found some place else to hide after that cafe got blocked-”

“Shh, Marinette, I’m not done. You two have been missing for half an hour, and you!” She looked directly at marinette, who sighed. “You cannot save people before yourself! I’m proud that you managed to get everyone out of the way, but you could have easily made it into the cafe with us!”

Alya continued to rant at Marinette, oblivious to her deadpan expression. 

“Sorry we made you guys worry,” Adrien said sheepishly, looking at Nino. 

“Don’t worry, she's actually just mad that she didn’t get to film anything,” Nino replied, adjusting his hat. “I’m actually really glad we got stuck in that cafe, Alya’s never been super great about her own self preservation.”

“Yeah, that’s one way to take care of it,” Adrien laughed.

The two boys gently corralled their respective soulmates into moving towards the school, and were able to slip into class just as the bell rang. 

The rest of the day passed without incident, allowing Adrien to finally relax after his Chinese tutor had left. He had just pulled out his phone when there was a knock at the door. 

“Yes, Nathalie?” 

The door opened, and his father stepped through the doorway.

“So Adrien. When were you planning on telling me you found your soulmate?”


End file.
